Two Letters

My mail makes me smile. This came in last week, from A.M.

okay,
so i dont even know if this will ever get to the author of “speak,”
but i just thought it was VERY neccesary to thank her for creating such an amazing book.
i was completely in awe of how much i learned from and connected to this book.
So Laurie Halse Anderson, thank you for understanding and helping others to understand the thoughts of someone going through anything difficult in their life.
i know a lot about going through hard times, as i’m sure you do, and this was very much an encouraging story about the life of a teenage girl.
“Speak” spoke to me in a way no other book has in my life (and i read a lot!)
i jut wanted to send this e-mail as a bit of encouragment, so PLEASE keep on writing and inspiring people with this talent of yours.

Is it surprising that I woke up at 5 this morning, thought about characters, then watched the sun rise and set to work eagerly? No, not at all.

And then there are letters like this, which tend to come to my MySpace account:

first of all Hello Laurie! Let me introduce myself.. my name is XXX and I am 13 years old. Thank you so much for having time to read and pay attention to my letter. I am writing to you because I need help from an expert..YOU! OK.ok. I’ll tell you! I need major HELP!!! My 8th grade English teacher assigned me a major task!
Which is to read your WONDERFUL PERFECT book Speak which i know is an excellent book because she told me..and to write a Summary. I have barely read half of your book and guess what!!!! I LOST THE BOOK!!! And the worst part is that it’s my teacher’s. Please HELP ME DO MY Summary! Please I beg you with all my heart. Can you please write me a short summary of the other half of the book?

Please! Laurie.. thank you sooooo much for being able to help me!

thanks.. PS. your book is really interesting!

No, I did not write her a summary. The biggest part of growing up is learning to deal with your own problems and to own your mistakes. She’ll figure it out.

Crazy day today…. the Creature With Fangs is going to have a hysterectomy because she has dysplasia. We’re going to be running around trying to fit a million things into 12 hours.

😀 I’m so pleased you mentioned World Book Day. At the moment I’m dressed as Fawkes the Phoenix (I have wings!!) and just about everyone else at my school is dressed as literary characters. (I go to an all girls grammar school in England but I don’t think many other secondary schools around here have dressed up though.) The teacher’s theme was “School days”, although one of the geography teachers dressed up as a bandit.

Sadly, there are many libraries where this book would not be available to her. Even more problematic, many book stores fail to carry it too. As a teacher, I understand the need for a student to learn from their mistakes and take action to overcome such barriers. My decision would be right along that of the one mentioned here. This child could have borrowed a book or spoken with her teacher about loaning one to her. Nonetheless, it would be problematic to make the assumption that a controversial book would be at a local library or bookstore.

Hi Ms. Anderson. I read your book in Honors English 1 this year, I finished it in only 3 days. We had 3 weeks to do it. We also had to keep up with a journal all about it. Now, with the journal due TOMORROW I have a problem. I’ve been searching for about an hour on why you wrote this book.. I can’t seem to fnd my answer. It would be awesome if you could help me out some, it’s quite difficult. Your book is absolutely amazing, it left me in awe. The book let mek now that I’m not alone in this teenage fight. I could really relate to Melinda. The book is amazing.
Thanks bunches!!
-Jessica of North Carolina